#how to write a case study

[tutorhelp4you]

Learning to Write Case Studies: Professional Advice from Tutorhelp4you

With the help of Tutorhelp4you’s extensive guide, discover the techniques for creating engaging case studies. Discover how to write a case study that will fascinate readers and convince them of your findings with these step-by-step strategies. Our knowledgeable tutors offer priceless advice on everything from case study organization to exhaustive investigation and analysis. Learn how to use data, make compelling stories, and offer conclusions that have an impact. This guide gives you the tools you need to create exceptional case studies, whether you’re a professional or a student. With the help of Tutorhelp4you, improve your professional or academic portfolio right away!

[xxplastic-cubexx]

cant stop thinkin bout charles and erik readin together on the couch but instead of reading with him charles is listening to eriks thoughts while he reads. Live mind commentary ……..

[six-white-venus]

before he was a martyr, jesus was a son.

[necrotic-nephilim]

@profandomhopper i was going to reblog the original post this comment was left on but i felt it divorced itself from the original topic so much, you get your own post for giving me delightful permission to ramble about this. buckle in people this is long.

so, DC is a big fandom that expanses a lot of different types of content, and like anything, is subject to crossovers. the obvious ones like Marvel are for the reason of being a similar and equally popular superhero world, so it's easy to transpose the worlds onto each other and overlap the characters. both of these worlds deal with multiverses and endless, endless heroes. it makes sense and there's no real stretch to think Batman and Spider-Man could co-exist. i mean, there have been canon crossover comics. and even some more random crossovers like White Collar have pretty easy to trace origins, being an actor in WC was a popular Dick fancast back in the day so there was some bleeding over that led to a well-loved niche crossover space.

but Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug are where it gets interesting. because at a surface, MLB sort of makes sense. it's a superhero world, you're following a teen girl superhero and sure the mechanics are pretty contained, but the crossover should make sense. but when you compare it to the crossover numbers of other superhero media like say My Hero Academia, Ladybug takes the *crown* with such a bizarre popularity. and of course, DP feels like it makes even less sense. sure, you *could* lump it into at the very least, superhero-adjacent media, but it's not a true hero world like MLB or DC is.

but, the thing to always understand about DC, *especially* the Batfamily (which is where the crossover content propagates the most) is this: a *very* good chunk of fans don't interact with the comics. i would venture to say even most Batfamily fans don't read the comics and actively talk about it. we've all read a very fandom big Batfam fanfic where the author's note mentions the writer has never touched a comic in their life. typically, these fans are either cobbling together their understanding from fandom content, or by frankensteining unrelated DC adaptations to understand each character. you take Bruce from Batman: TAS, you take Dick from the animated Young Justice, you take Jason from Batman: Under The Red Hood animated movie, you take Damian from the DCAMU Batman vs Robin, and you read some fandom metas to fill in the rest and well, you've got some sort of an understanding of these characters. read enough incorrect quotes, some genfic, a couple of character metas, and boom, you understand the Batfamily fandom enough to start creating your own content. and of course now. now you have Wayne Family Adventures so it's even *easier*. a pretty easy to pick up webtoon that's filling in all the gaps for you. but i've been in this fandom long enough to remember before we had WFA and even then, this was still a common, if not the most popular way, to ween yourself into the DC fandom space. you cherry-picked the canon you liked and then plunged into the depths of fanon.

i'm not here to make in depth commentary on if i think this is a good or bad thing. trust me i have that commentary in my head, but that would need it's own post. i'm very split on it and my feelings are complicated. my feelings on WFA are even *more* complicated. because oftentimes, the attitude expressed by these fans who are frankensteining this version of the Batfamily/DC world they have in their head is they don't *want* to read the comics. the comics don't contain the content they're after. and to an extent, i understand that. if you're looking for light-hearted vibes of the Batfamily all getting along and having the occasional hurt/comfort moments but in the end, they hug and make up, you're right. largely, you won't find that in canon. of course there are so many comics to recommend for Batfamily interactions, but you have to get specific. you'll find them interacting in small groups, Tim and Dick bonding here, Duke and Cass bonding there, but largely, the comics don't care to balance the ridiculously large cast they've given themselves. but fandom does. it's easy to toss them all in a blender and ignore the parts you don't like. the default argument to ignoring the comics or writing something OOC is always "well the comics are OOC and inconsistent too" which, while a flawed argument that massively misunderstand how comics work as a medium, isn't an entirely incorrect one. you could serve on a silver platter to these fans, an easy and accessible way to get into comics and they wouldn't be interested. it's not what they're here for. fandom is always character-driven above all else. it's driven by character relationships and dynamics. if someone wants to consume content where Tim idolized and stalked Jason as 'his Robin' and now is trying to help him rehabilitate and they're super complicated but have this long epic forgiveness arc, why *would* they read the comics? because they're sure as shit not going to find that dynamic in the comics. it's laughably OOC and not canon at all, but that doesn't matter. what matters is the sandbox. most Batfamily fans care *far* more about the sandbox canon gives them than the actual canon itself. feel how you feel about that, this really isn't being negative toward that attitude, but it is a common attitude.

so, you have Batfamily fans playing in the sandbox and building their own narrative. common fandom headcanons are so common, you could practically write a guide on how the fanon Batfamily works with how consistent people are about it. or you could just read WFA, which is practically the new manifesto of it. even now, with this sudden spike in people talking about canon accuracy and "actually this happening in the comics", they don't actually care about the comics, just what they can cherry-pick for fodder. (even if they rob it of so much context they're just as OOC as they were before. see specifically: the recent phenomena with Tim Drake going from the woobified weakest member of the Batfam who everyone needs to save constantly and he's the smart boy but he's also the one with a sad tragic neglectful past who gets overlooked being the way Batfamily fandom played with Tim for years. but recently, people seem to be pushing this idea of a ridiculously badass Tim, Tim who *totally* has a kill count because of his actions in RR (2009) if you take them completely out of context, Tim who bested Ra's and is even more badass than Jason and he's the 17 yr old CEO of Wayne Industries being cool and flawless it becoming the new fandom zeitgeist. neither of these versions of Tim are canon, and the second fundamentally misunderstands his arc in RR (2009) but the shift has undeniably happened and it's been fascinating to watch. the same thing happened with people suddenly deciding Jason isn't the "angry violent Robin", he was a sunshine sweet boy who was perfect as Robin. neither of these are true, but the second feels more transgressive and new to fandom from cherry-picked panels.) the point is largely, Batfamily fans would rather build their own canon than play with the actual canon.

and then, you have Danny Phantom. i'm not into DP and have no interest to get into it, but what i know about it via fandom osmosis is this: DP fans sort of also don't give a fuck about canon. once again, the canon of DP is a sandbox, not a rulebook. the concepts and the characters are the draw, not the plot itself. i've seen DP posts explaining characters who are essentially OCs, but have become so dominant in the fandom via fandom osmosis. there are concepts and ideas about how Danny's powers work and potential concepts with his ghost nature that either aren't in canon or only happened once in canon and fans decided to expand on that and doesn't care about it's own in-universe logic. i've seen a lot of DP fans also express they haven't seen the show and they don't have plans to see the show. because the show is just some children's cartoon with some inconsistencies and a simple plot, as you'd expect from CN. the show isn't the point. no one cares about it's plot, they care about it's characters. they care about pushing the concept of half ghost boy to a logical extreme and seeing what you can get out of that. can you make it weird and fucked up. how much can you highlight on his trauma and body horror. what identity crisis can you give him and how can you build his interactions with other characters in his world around that and also make those characters fun and unique on their own. sure, the skeleton of canon is there, but the meat lies all in the fanon.

Miraculous Ladybug also exists in this similar vein. the characters, the concepts, those hold intrigue. and not even mentioning the fact the original concept for this show was supposed to be aimed to an older audience, so you can see the bones of something a bit more mature and nuanced under this typical, villain of the week magical girl transformation show. the show itself is a bit shallow and that's not a *bad* thing, it's just the medium it exists within being aimed towards children. but the concepts of a teen girl who's basically a sort of chosen one, a boy who doesn't know his father is the big bad of the show, and their weird identity porn love... square thing. those dynamics are *so* complicated and such a fun sandbox to play in with character-driven fandom.

so, at the core, you have three fandoms that care more about the culturally accepted fanon than the canon, with a good chunk of people often not even consuming the original canon content. and well, DC is an *easy* world to transpose just about anything onto. a boy who's half ghost and fighting supernatural threats? that makes sense, DC has ghost heroes like Deadman already. a girl who has this magical item that gives her animal themed superpowers? i mean that's practically the same thing as Vixen's Totem so that one makes sense too. they fit in pretty easy, no needing to change the world to accommodate them. and of course, if you're a fan of *one* fandom where you don't care for the canon content and only like the fandom sandbox, chances are, you'll get drawn in pretty easily to another fandom with similar mechanics. if you can teach yourself the DP fandom rules/concepts, you can teach yourself the Batfamily fandom rules/concepts. and well, since there's so much crossover in fandom members, why not write the fanfiction? crossover fics will always exist, but with such a shared member base, you have a really big boom.

it's why the characters you see DP interact with in DC are *always* characters who are far more driven by fanon than canon. Danny and John Constantine is a *massive* concept. for people who don't read Hellblazer comics. my poor partner, @divine-dominion has lamented to me pretty often about finding DP content in the Hellblazer tag that is essentially turning Constantine into an OC. because whatever version of Constantine is being written about isn't one bit comics accurate, and really, isn't trying to be. and the same thing happens with Shazam. you watch Young Justice and understand him well enough, you get drawn in by the character concept that you just run with it. people put their favorite blorbos in the same place because hey, wouldn't ghost boy be pretty cool in a city like *Gotham*. how would Batman even react to him. and then, the shipping. because ages for the Batfamily can be easily hand-waved and moved around based on where you plop Danny into the timeline, you have your pick of the litter with him, and same with Ladybug. of course there are the most popular ships but largely, the world is your oyster.

i don't think this is the worst thing in the world for either fandom. it's not hard to filter out the crossover tags and scroll past content i don't like. and sure, i see the appeal of making your blorbos from two different places meet. i've got my drafts *full* of DC/MHA crossover ideas because well, i like them both and think that would be cool. i think my only gripe with it is when DP or MLB crossover content seeps it's way into the wrong tags. using the above example, if you're writing about Danny and Constantine but there's zero content of the actual Hellblazer comics, i don't think you need the Hellblazer tag, just the Constantine character tag. tbh i wish this extended onto Ao3 and people utilized fandom tags better. if you're writing Batfamily fanfiction that is very clearly and obviously WFA driven in characterization and concepts, i would far prefer those fics be tagged with the WFA fandom tag rather than the Batman (comics) fandom tag. because well, you're not writing about the Batman comics. and there's nothing wrong with that, but it helps if you don't confuse yourself for content striving to interact with canon more. (this especially extends to Young Justice, by the way. if you're writing for the Young Justice tv show please, please stop using the Young Justice (comics) fandom tag. i'm at my wit's end- /lh)

the whole thing is fascinating. i've got zero interest in entering DP or MLB as fandoms because that's not my speed, but witnessing it as an outsider is my favorite pastime. i see a *lot* of posts going around the DC x DP space that are helping explain to people who's who, what's what, and understanding the canon/fanon of both of these properties so others can better enter the space. which is not something you'd need in a fandom driven only by it's canon content, but it is sweet watching others try to help newbies enter the space. it's a very inviting fandom space, i think, whether you lament it's existence or not. they're just sitting in their corner with their blorbos, and i gotta respect that. the posts explaining the Batfamily to DP fans are always fun for me to read, even if i disagree with some of the characterizations in them because it helps shine a light on what the fans of this crossover regard as "important" enough about each fandom to be worth including those sorts of primers. very fascinating stuff.

[shadowtraveled]

this is a largely meaningless observation but, based on the fleki uniform demonstration comic, mithrun seems to wear the default style of the canary uniform, probably because he has no desire to personalize it or preference for how to do so, etc. when he does seem to pick his own clothes, though, they don’t look super in-line with what we’re shown of elven clothing styles in his region: high collars look like they’re fairly popular with elves in general, but out of uniform he tends to be a lot more covered up than everyone else—long sleeves, long pants, boots rather than sandals, and he dresses that way both prior to getting eaten and after the events of the series. anyway it’s kind of cute that after everything that happened to him, someone cared enough to remember what his clothing preferences used to be.

[confusedgoldenflower]

[Text] Ace Visibility Week 2024 event, coming October 20-26!

[Text] Ace Visibility Week 2024 AO3 collection.

Prompts:

Tattoos

Picnic

Night out

A break

It seems so long ago...

What have we done?

On that day-

Feels so good when you hold me

Buggaboo

A favor

Secret

Gardens

Sickness

Monsters in the dark

Gift of heart

Clash

Ears

Unnatural limbs

Link to the collection (with a FAQ): https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AceVisibilityWeek2024. Crashcourse FAQ: indeed includes aro stuff; can include sex as long as a-spec is respected; NO pwp/smut for the sake of it; and consent is a MUST.

My first event, I hope y’all will join in the a-spec loving! 🖤🤍💜 🖤🤍💚

Please use tags #acevisibilityweek2024, #aceweek2024 and #aceweekao3. Feeling a bit spicy, use #teachthealloshowtoact.

It’ll be easiest—I think—to keep track on AO3 because of the way it’s set-up, but I will definitely be trolling Tumblr as well (I don’t have Twitter, it scares me). Of course, art and pod fics, etc are welcome.

I know I don’t have a following or a Twitter, but regardless, I hope other aces and allies will join me in this, and we can have it as an annual event sorta like MerMay and AUgust!

[novelconcepts]

Had this screencap living on my phone for art purposes, and I just lost like twenty minutes staring at their hands. These are some of the gayest hands in human history. An entire Pride month could be dedicated to these hands. Put this shot in the MoMA, dude.

[loudkidsoulfreak]

toichi is getting left behind in the brocon poll so i wanna explain toichi in shinichi's childhood adventure case a little bit cuz i don't think people realize how insane he is in this case:

yusaku has been unplugged the house phone while yukiko is away, that's mean toichi can't call him despite probably have his number

so toichi have like THREE (3) attempts on deliver his letter:

1. disguise as one of the book delivery guy and spread some rumors to shinichi's friends to lure him to the school in the middle of the night. then threatened him to take the challenge (my guy why are you death threat two little children for your fan letter huh)

2. not sure if yusaku would actually get the letter so he prepared another one and likely ask if yukiko could bring yusaku to him

3. yusaku didn't come so he has to ask yukiko to deliver it instead. just to receive yusaku's reply already.

HE WAS ONE FUCKING STEP AWAY FROM JUST BROKE INTO THE KUDO MANSION ALREADY IF YUSAKU DIDNT ANSWER HIM FOR FUCK'S SAKE. SUCH A LOSER (affectionally)

this song is literally him

[spaghett-onaplate]

I don't think I get like triggered by things really but maybe it happened today?? in my most annoying class with my most annoying teacher we've been going over the same domestic violence worksheet for like two weeks and the room was really hot and stuffy and I suddenly felt so so queasy. then straight after in English we also brushed over that 😭 but in a more valuable and speculative manner at least. like in the first class we were talking about statistics and how young men view it/perpetuate it and she suggested linking it to our own experiences?? err no?

[tutorhelp4you]

Learning to Write Case Studies: Professional Advice from Tutorhelp4you

With the help of Tutorhelp4you's extensive guide, discover the techniques for creating engaging case studies. Discover how to write a case study that will fascinate readers and convince them of your findings with these step-by-step strategies. Our knowledgeable tutors offer priceless advice on everything from case study organization to exhaustive investigation and analysis. Learn how to use data, make compelling stories, and offer conclusions that have an impact. This guide gives you the tools you need to create exceptional case studies, whether you're a professional or a student. With the help of Tutorhelp4you, improve your professional or academic portfolio right away!

[a-cloud-for-dreams]

gabrielamala should be more toxic i think

[moregraceful]

many things i have been keeping under wraps at work, such as pronouns, but also, very critically, age. bc i got that ageless mixed race asian swag where i am very clearly not an undergrad but also??? they just don't know. and it WHIPS and it is so funny to ME because all the managers and shift supervisors are like damn this girl in her mid-twenties is so easy to talk to, it's like talking to a peer. surprise bitch i'm older than you. and maybe this means i'm performing psychological experiments on cis men, but i am ngl if i hand you a two page resume that you don't read, it is simply none of MY business if you think i am in my mid-20s. they are going to be so mad when they find out lmao

[toastytrusty]

ok personal headcanon ramble time. MYYYY personal take on hickey's backstory and mental health 👇

in regards to the real cornelius hickey. the big thing -> he did not kill him. i understand why it was done that way in the show, but it doesn't make sense to his arc (read: the slow building horrifying realization that killing someone for the greater good is okay, actually) for him to have killed someone prior to the canon and be so unbothered by killing people. so within my mind palace that did not happen. instead, i like to believe he drugged him and locked him up somewhere on the day of the expedition. this is where it gets reallyyyy I'm Just Making Shit Up-y but. to MEEE. our hickey was having a really bad few years, deep in depression and struggling with alcoholism and whatever else, and eventually meets the Real cornelius hickey at a pub or something. they get close, our hickey is captivated by him, they're probably fucking, and the real hickey tells him about this expedition he's going on to the arctic! how fascinating! and his mental state kinda flips.

dave k has said hickey was written to have npd, which, obviously. no one was questioning that. but i also view him as having bipolar 1. we see Multiple examples within the show of him having what could be considered manic episodes, he gets really paranoid, has an intense fear of not being in control, etc. his delusions of grandeur can all be quite well explained by fits of mania, and he even arguably has moments psychosis (cough double homicide cough. because there is not one singular reason to take all your clothes off in the ARCTIC. he was not in his right mind). and! i think his decision to steal someone's identity and get on an arctic voyage when he's never been to sea in his life was something of a manic decision. he was in a months/years long depressive episode prior to meeting the real cornelius hickey, then he was sequentially thrown into a manic episode, and years of resentment and ambition coalesced into this idea of fleeing britain and making something of himself in o'ahu.

so, he drugs his new friend the night before the expedition, locks him in a closet or shed or something, and takes his place. i think him taking someone else's identity instead of just going as himself is a decision largely more relevant to other aspects of his character, such as the class traitor-ness and general themes of imperialism and bureaucracy in the show, but there is still a very paranoid weight to it. it's also obviously the less rational way to do things, which. yk. manic irrational decision making.

and just for fun. further less psychoanalytical and more thematic personal takes on his backstory:

his mother Was irish, but his father was english, and left before he was born. his mom died of consumption when he was nine and he went to live with his uncle in england. so he Is irish, just never really lived much of his life in ireland. takes the name and face of a real irishman to try clinging to something more real than he has ever felt he was, masking his insecurity. fake caulker fake sailor fake irishman. or whatever.

and the caulker thing. caulkers fill in cracks, fix things, hold everything together. the real hickey being a caulker is one of the things that fascinates our hickey and makes him want to take the real hickey's place. his narcissistic need to be needed. his grandiose delusions that he is the key to everything and only he can save everyone starts with him Becoming someone whose job it is to hold the little pieces of the world together.

from ages 14 to 18 he hung with a group of guys that moved around a lot looking for work, kind of a gang but not really. they had a hunting dog and hickey was more an equal with the dog than with them. they didn't like him. he was tasked with taking care of the dog, and grew to resent it even though it was the closest he had to a friend.

not thematic Or psychoanalytical but i like to believe those guys threw him out of a window on his 18th birthday. For morale. he stopped following them around after that

[softquietsteadylove]

Poor fisherman Gil getting turned to the same species as Thena for a day because of some wich and now he finds out how Thena finds him very hot in his form

"Thena!"

"Gil?" Thena turned, her hair fanning around her in the water. It was still a distance away, but she knew that voice. Although, she never expected to hear it in this way again. She squinted, hoping to focus her eyes on the far, far distance.

There was a small dot of black, swimming towards her. It was moving quickly, using a thick, strong tail. Its fins were thick, like a shark's, dark against the blue like an angler.

"Gil!" She swam, her tail propelling her urgently. Her arms reached out against the currents, a habit she'd picked up from her human mate.

"Angelfish!" Gil burst in relief as he got his arms around her. They circled in the water, their tails swishing so closely they knocked together. "I'm so glad I found you!"

She blinked, her eyes adjusting again. She could feel the dark scales raised on his skin, the dorsal spines running down his back between the muscles of his torso. Her fins reacted naturally to the way the water bent around his larger, stronger fins.

He pouted as she pulled away. "I was worried I wouldn't be able to find you. It's a whole lot of nothing out here!"

She laughed faintly, although she quieted herself at his distress. "Everything identifiable is further down, love. Sandbanks, current changes, there are reefs and-"

Gil latched onto her again. "Well, I didn't expect to have to come find you like this."

He had a point. Thena let him cling to her, although it was decidedly odd behaviour for a mer. "Indeed--why are you out here like this?"

He groaned, making bubbles rise from the gills on his neck. "I don't know what happened."

She listened patiently as he started drifting downward listlessly, letting his worries sink him a little at a time. She took his hand, also odd for a mer, but assuring him she was there.

"I reeled up this weird looking eel-fish-thing. I was gonna cut it loose, thought maybe it was an endangered species or something. But then I got close, this purple gas came out of nowhere, and suddenly my legs were gone."

"Hm," Thena mused aloud. She could see how that was alarming. It was one thing for her to practice and then perfect splitting her tail into legs. And while it was embarrassing and frustrating to lose that control in times of fatigue, she could only imagine how frightening it would be to experience it completely without knowledge or prior attempts.

"I slid myself off the deck of Titania so I could come find you," Gil finished, practically whimpering at her.

She offered a smile and leaned in to kiss him. "Fear not, my lionfish. I doubt it will last."

"You think?" he asked her as she continued her affections. They drifted closer to the coral reefs below.

She nodded, guiding him more deliberately towards some ledges of coral formations on which they could rest. "Old magic like that is rare, but all the tales of it never speak of anything lasting longer than a moon."

Gil looked down at himself, bending his tail as they managed to hover around the coral and sand. "I wasn't exactly planning on taking a day off work, let alone like this. And Titania isn't even anchored!"

"Gil," she said gently, tipping his chin to kiss him again. It seemed to calm him, and she had to admit that kissing him in this form - feeling the bend of his fangs under his lip - held a certain addictiveness to her. She blamed it on her instincts.

"Okay, okay, you're right," he sighed, again releasing his excess air via his gills. Even they were lovely.

He looked around them, now able to see a few mers in the area, further from the surface. "I had kind of hoped I could ask someone if they had seen you, but no one was around. And if I did see anything even resembling a mer it just...swam off."

Thena smiled again. Her mate was truly adorable. "I can see why."

His gills puffed. "What does that mean?"

Her eyes drifted down from the rich colour of his eyes to the exposure of his collar bone. Usually, he was preoccupied with covering himself, even at home, more often than not. But she had a full view of his chest, the perfect blend of muscle and fat. His dark scales encroached on it, harmonizing with the lovely colour of his skin. His upper abdominal muscles bulged, a line running down them until his scales from either side of his back met and formed the upper beginnings of his tail.

"Angelfish?"

She darted her eyes back up to his. This was not the time for her to be appraising his appeal as a mate. "You look a little...sharklike."

"Really?" he looked down at himself. Of course, both of them next to each other, the contrast was visible. His tail and fins were thicker, more cartilage than thin membrane stretched between spines. "Huh."

Thena squeaked, her own gills bubbling as he reached down and ran his thumb over the webbing of one of her fins. Red bloomed across her face.

"Whoa," he commented mildly, comparing the feeling of her fin and his own. He ran it between his thumb and finger, like he did with hers. "That's such a weird sensation. It's like...I dunno, I've never had an extra limb like this."

Thena was unable to offer comment, too flustered at having him explore her so liberally.

"So," he looked at her again, completely unaware of how badly he had flustered her. "Is it bad?--how I look, I mean."

"Oh," she gulped, her gills breathing for her. She resettled her tail, hoping it wasn't vibrating from the stimulation. "N-No, not necessarily."

"Is it, uh," he made a face, also resettling himself to 'sit' with her (in a sense), "uncommon?"

She pushed her hair over her shoulder and out of her way. "No, Gil, it's...well, it isn't common. But it's in no way unfavorable."

He looked around them again. They were getting a few looks by passing mers, both individuals, and even mated pairs passing through. "You sure?"

"Indeed," she murmured, also eyeing those who paid them special attention. "Intimidating, perhaps, but not unfavorable."

"How is it good to be intimidating?" he asked, and it reminded her that he felt sensitively about his size as a human, too. He was such a gentle soul, he didn't like it when other humans assumed he was of an unpleasant disposition.

Her sweet human.

Thena sighed, taking his hand again, clasping it between hers. "To other bulls, I mean, Gil. You are an intimidating rival to other males."

"Oh," he made another face, and then his eyes went wide, "oh! Wait, you mean, like...I'm-"

"A fine specimen," she finished for him, no matter what it was he would have said. She huffed, "and believe me, the others here have noticed."

Gil raised a brow at her. He took another brief look around, although she was happy to note that he didn't seem to really notice anyone. "Really?"

"Is it so unbelievable?" she challenged. She rose from their relaxed position on the smooth coral overhang, dusting up the sand below. "I'll have you know that mers are very selective about potential mates. You cut a very promising prospect."

Gil rose to join her, easily only having to beat his tail once for every two of hers. "You know I don't care about that, hon."

Thena followed another mer taking notice of them with her eyes. In fact, she let her whole head swivel, making sure they knew they were not unchallenged. "It is not up to you, I'm afraid. Those interested will take notice whether I want them to or not."

She hissed at the passerby, just to really send a message.

Gil chuckled next to her. "Now you know how I feel all the time."

Her gills puffed again as he turned her gently to stop glaring at others and look at him. He brushed his thumb against the necklace permanently corded around her neck.

Thena happily leaned in, angling her shoulders forward as her tail swished happily. Kissing wasn't foreign to mers, but it wasn't the primary mode of conveying affection, either. This was much more human, but she had no qualms.

Gil kissed her eagerly, their fangs clicking together a few times in their vigour. His arms wrapped around her, his fingers tracing the spines along her back bone. She really had to tell him that he was quite handsy as a mer.

She purred as they separated, her hands on his cheeks, him still holding her as close as their tails could allow.

"It's quite a vulgar display, isn't it?"

Thena turned, hissing and splaying her fins at whomever it was that felt the need to comment, no matter who it was. "Away!"

It was two other mermaids, eyeing her with displeasure. It was not unlike having to confront human women on land, though. Defending her territory as a mate was always the same, legs or tail.

The two waved at Gil. "Do come find us if you tire of her."

Gil let his offense at the suggestion show on his face. His lip curled up in a snarl to show off his impressive fangs. "Trade a pearl for a rock, you mean?"

The female's jaw dropped.

Thena snickered at both the jab and her reaction to it. They turned sharply, flapping their tails forcefully in their exit. Thena was happy to send them away without their satisfaction. She circled on the spot a few times, displaying her unwillingness to back down.

Gil reached up to pull her down to him again. He was amused. "Are mers always so...forward about mates?"

Thena gave one last withering look in the direction of the two intruders. "Not always that forward. But I did tell you--you are a desirable prospect. And those without a mate would happily make an offer to you. Clearly my presence is not an obstacle."

"Well," Gil pulled her close again, despite or perhaps in spite of how they were just scrutinised for it. "How should I convey I'm a taken man--or mer, I guess."

She smiled, pressing her lips to his again, if briefly this time. "Only for a day. And just stay close to me. I will handle any potential interlopers."

"Well," he drawled. He was having fun, now. "If I'm so intimidating looking--what with my shark fins and all."

He spoke lightly of it, but it wasn't that common, and it did make him entirely too appealing to the eye.

"Maybe I should put it to good use," he nuzzled her cheek, making sure to settle himself next to her ear. "And make it clear that I'm happily mated."

Thena did her best to resist the urge to flutter like a jellyfish. She nuzzled into him in return, again indulging in such affections based on her merly instinct (she told herself). "It should be obvious to anyone. You are far too alluring a specimen to be without mate, after all."

"Is that so?" he raised an eyebrow at her as she trailed a finger down his open chest. "Well, it's a good thing I'm so 'alluring', as you put it."

She pursed her lips, awaiting his reasoning. But she blushed as his fin caressed hers in a way she refused to believe was accidental. "Gil!"

"I'll have to be, to be with the most beautiful mermaid in all the seven seas."

[sysig]

What is it that draws me to you (Patreon)

[starry-scarl3tt]

is this what addiction feels like

thank you so much for every single person out there who is just as mentally deranged as i am, i love you with all that is left of my heart 🫶🫶🫶❤️❤️❤️❤️